. >> we must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. but we reject the belief that america must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. >> some republicans are complaining now that the president's speech was too partisan and didn't reach out enough. here is a news flash. this isn't about those republican lawmakers. this is about you, the american people and the policies that the president has put forth. it's about fixing the budget without burdening the poor in this country or the elderly or the disabled. the next four years are going to be very interesting. let's turn to john nichols, washington correspondent of "the nation" magazine. and john, "the nation" magazine was so impressed with the speech today that there was a lot of rewriting going on. >> yep. and i sometimes have to do a lot of that rewriting. >> remarkably progressive today? >> yeah, it was. we were struck by it. we set a high standard for this president. we don't let him off the hook whe